Thursday, August 6, 2020

Don't Be Cruel

Was the king a fan of the banjo?  A quick sweep of the internet turned up one photo of Elvis holding a banjo which may or may not be fake and, to be honest, I can't recall hearing banjo on any of his recordings (if I'm wrong about this please let me know).

I thought I might bring Elvis a little closer to the banjo with a 5 string arrangement of one of his early hits.  This is 'Don't Be Cruel' written by Otis Blackwell, an R&B singer and pianist who penned such hits as 'Great Balls of Fire' for Jerry Lee Lewis and 'Fever' for Peggy Lee.   

I try to keep the syncopated bass in there as much as possible and leave spaces where things break down to just the bass line for a measure or two.



Having trouble getting the video to actually show up in blogger but the link is https://youtu.be/o0pv1tAEXBs





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